With the increasing amount of media content entering the home, parental controls are becoming more prevalent. Currently, each media provider, whether telephone, television or internet, must have its own dedicated parental control device, which may become ineffective against local users.
Technologies for parental control of internet content exist, but they offer limited protection unless the filtering is done by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) itself. In such a case, however, customization of the filtered content is difficult.
With regard to television, access is often sold in channel packages. In order to obtain a channel that a parent wants, he or she may have to also purchase additional channels that he or she may deem inappropriate. Further complicating controlling the content is that some stations broadcast both appropriate and inappropriate content so the parent needs suitable tools to filter inappropriate programming per program. Some cable television providers offer cable boxes that have some parental control features built in but not without limitations. For example, each television set would require a separate parental control device, requiring each to be individually set-up and maintained and requiring synchronization of settings, passwords and other user selections.
Of course, because each provider requires its own filtering device, different commands must be entered for each, rendering set up procedures difficult and cumbersome.